After a laundry list of mistakes led to a disappointing loss at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks, the Oilers were back on home ice to square off against the Ottawa Senators for the series finale. But while the game venue changed, Edmonton’s puck management woes did not. We saw costly mistakes, grade-A chances, and, of course, we saw our share of goals against. Only this time, the Oilers were able to outscore their problems, got the late tying goal that never came in San Jose, and finished the night with a power-play goal by Evan Bouchard to complete the comeback. By no means was that the prettiest win we’ll ever see, but it just may be one of the most important. Final Score: 5-4 Oilers

I know the Oilers came back to beat the Senators, and that I should be writing about how important those two points are, but all I can think about is the defence. Of all the problems you could have told me that the Oilers would have at this stage of the season, being in full free-fall so often defensively wouldn’t have been on my Bingo card. Mediocre penalty kill, spotty goaltending, occasional lapses in judgment, and no secondary scoring would have all made sense, but a complete mess in their own end? Never in my wildest dreams would you have convinced me that this is where we’d be after 62 games played. Not for this group. Not for a team with two of the best players on earth. It’s like they’ve never been able to shake the pre-season out of their game or something, but the mistakes they’re making that are leading to goals against are problems that normally get squashed in October. They play as if defending is optional, and no one stops pucks consistently regardless of who’s in net.

At this rate, it doesn’t matter what Stan Bowman gets done at the trade deadline if the existing players keep playing so poorly in their own end. Yes, they beat the Senators and limited them to two shots in the third period, but they also spotted Ottawa four goals. Until they bring the goals-against down and get buy-in from all four lines that defence actually matters, then making trades to improve the roster is like putting lipstick on a pig.  All I know for sure is that playing like you expect to win instead of actually working for it never works, and that’s what the Oilers look like to me right now. Sure, comebacks are fun and all, but so are post-to-post wins. Way too often, the boys look like they’re thinking that getting back to the Stanley Cup Final is going to be easy instead of realizing that they’re blowing their chance to even get there in the process. At this rate, we’re going to be stressing about Edmonton’s spot in the standings unless we get a real shift in mentality and work ethic. It’s one thing to pull off a comeback from time to time, it’s another when you have to do it every single night just to have a chance.

Before I get going on the Oilers’ goaltending, I’m going to start by saying that I think a big part of what’s happening between the pipes is a product of the terrible defending happening in front of them. I don’t know if you’ve popped over to Stuart Skinner’s NHL stats page lately, but playing behind a  Penguins group that actually seems interested in defence seems to help. What a wild concept, right? That said, what we’re getting in net right now isn’t good enough either, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s Connor Ingram or Tristan Jarry that’s standing there. Neither guy has played well enough, and both guys have been left hung out to dry more often than anyone would want. We’ve got a turd sandwich here, friends, and there ain’t no mustard coming to help mask the taste.

Tuesday’s game against the Sens was Connor Ingram’s third straight start because the coaching staff clearly thinks he’s a better option than Jarry, but his numbers haven’t been much better. Yes, he got the win, but I’m talking about the body of work. Ingram has only a single appearance with a save percentage over .900 in the last eight games he’s played. Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry has only three games over .900 in his last 10 appearances. For those keeping score at home, that’s only four games in their last 18 combined appearances in which the Oilers have had a .900 save percentage or better. It doesn’t take a data scientist to figure out why that’s a problem. And when you combine porous defending with lacklustre goaltending, the results are about as far away from a Stanley Cup contender as it gets. And even though Edmonton was able to grind out an improbable win last night, it would be really nice if they didn’t always have to put five on the board to make that happen.

The Oilers have plenty of issues to clean up over the last quarter of the season, but one thing that would go a long way toward covering them up is a Leon Draisaitl heater. There aren’t many players on earth better at scoring goals than No. 29 when the big man gets hot. And while the team’s results have been lacklustre over the last handful of games, Draisaitl has started to pick up the goal pace at a time when Edmonton desperately needs the offence. With the two he picked up against the Senators — he finished with five points in 23:06 of TOI — Drai has eight goals in his last eight games, and has scored in five of his six. I’m not saying his game has been perfect, there are defensive items Draisaitl can surely clean up, but there’s no arguing what this kind of goal production can mean for this hockey team as these games start feeling more important.

While no one should expect Draisaitl to maintain a goal-per-game pace over these last two months of the season, good Gord, it would be incredibly helpful if he could stay hot. His 33 goals put him on a 44-goal pace, but I won’t be surprised in the least if Leon’s pace keeps picking up too. As we know very well, the Oilers tend to live and die with what Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are able to get done on the scoresheet, and having both halves of the Dynamic Duo filling the back of the net is more of a necessity than a luxury at this point. Not that they get a free pass in their own end, but I also think that some confidence offensively can smooth things out in their two-way game as well.

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